The present invention relates to an apparatus for using the hydrodynamic cavitation in medical treatment such as destroying kidney stones or killing infected cancer cells.
Health care spending occupies a significant portion in the budgets of many countries and the spendings well exceed 4% of gross domestic products of many countries. These huge budgets allocated for health care spending should be wisely managed in order to find solutions for primary diseases threatening the health.
Hydrodynamic cavitation is typically initiated with local static pressure reduction below a critical value. Its effects on many turbomachinery have been investigated by numerous researchers in some articles and standard multiphase textbooks. It is known that every hydraulic device is susceptible to the damage caused by cavitation once the appropriate cavitating flow conditions are observed. In most cases, hydrodynamic cavitation is not desired since it limits the performance of the fluidic system, causes catastrophic damage and flow choking, generates acoustic noise, and lowers efficiency.
There are two main sources for creating cavitating flow; hydrodynamic and ultrasonic sources. The use of ultrasonic cavitation in ultrasonic treatment of cancerous tissues has been investigated by various researchers. This technique has been widely employed in cancer treatment. It is a non-invasing treatment, where some difficulties are faced to expose the treatment to the desired location. Ultrasonic cavitation associated with heating and electrochemical methods are expensive methods and much energy input is required to initiate bubbly cavitation and produce micro/nanobubbles.
The United States specification US20080194868 has disclosed a method in which the hydrodynamic cavitation is used for crystallizing a component, particularly active pharmaceutical compounds. The process disclosed in that document is used for purification of compounds. The application of the method is targeted in crystallization of pharmaceutical compounds and is applicable to macro scale.
The United States specification for U.S Pat. No. 5,860,942 has disclosed a dental water irrigator by employing hydrodynamic cavitation. The application of the method in said invention lies in removing plaque from the tooth surface. Hydrodynamic cavitation is employed to produce radicals and ions in water to eliminate dental diseases.
The United States specification US20060194868 has disclosed a device and method of generating micro bubbles in a liquid by using hydrodynamic cavitation. The application of the method in the said invention lies in mineral recovery applications, cleaning contaminated ground water and treatment of waste water. This process is generally used for purification.